Welcome to the world of 'high income'. Yes, taxes do get higher as your earnings increase. In your case I suspect this is something you'll just have to get used to. Keep in mind, that wasting a dollar to save $.28 doesn't make much sense, so I would carefully consider any 'tax savings' expenses you make to make sure its an expense you'd likely be making anyway.

You could ask your employer to consider adopting a safe harbor 401(k) or a Qualified Auto Contribution Arrangement 401(k), which would allow the HCE's to max out annual contribution limits. But often, particluarly employers with lots of non-HCE's, these may cost him/her a bit more in mandatory matching or non-elective contributions and so may not want to do this, but it might be worth asking.

You can certainly contribute to your traditional IRAs up to the max of $5,000 each ($6,000 if 50 or older in 2012). This would not be deductible but earnings would be tax deferred.